The particular case may be visa-free trips by the residents of Sakhalin and Hokkaido. the minister stressed

MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/. Russia believes that there are no obstructions to canceling visas in relations with Japan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after the first round of Russian-Japanese negotiations on concluding a peace treaty within the framework of the format the leaders of the two countries agreed on in December.

"This is our global goal," he said. "We believe that there are no reasons why Russia and Japan cannot shift to visa-free relations, starting, for instance, with visa-free trips by the residents of Sakhalin and Hokkaido."

"We drew our counterparts’ attention to the fact that Russia in recent years put forward many initiatives aimed at either liberalizing travel rules for a number of groups of citizens - businessmen, tourists and participants in sports and cultural exchanges - up to the eventual cancellation of all visas," Lavrov recalled.